I didn't find a great deal online about Trabzon/Trebizond/Trapezus
itself in that period, but here are a few pointers.
"The classical city of Trebizond is protected on its eastern and
western sides by ravines, and on the north side by a cliff overlooking
a low foreshore. The site is trapezoid in form with the narrow side at
the southern end; here there are no natural defenses and a strong wall
was built to close off the town from the rest of the neck of land.
The ancient and medieval Trebizond, like many other Greek coastal
towns, possessed no natural harbor lying within the shelter of its
defenses; but there was a good natural protection for boats about a
mile to the east where a headland protects a little bay, called
Daphnous, with fairly deep water; in times of peace this would no
doubt have been in regular use. Eastward of Sinope this is the best of
all anchorages along the coast.
There is no level hinterland to the city but the hills rise gently
behind it for some way inland. This hilly territory would have
provided the necessary food-producing area for much of the needs of
the city and it is likely that all of the land westward as far as
Kordyle and the Karadag ridge would have supplied it.
The routes inland from Trebizond have been of continuous importance
since antiquity, and the fact that Xenophon and his men chose to come
to this city is sure evidence that at an early date it was an
established trade route. The preeminence of Trebizond along the cities
on the southern shore of the Black Sea must in the first place be
attributed to this route inland, which allowed the town to function as
an emporium for the reception of goods from Anatolia and Central Asia
on their way to Europe, and for goods from Europe on their way
eastward into Asia. The good defensive site, adequate food and water
supplies, and equable and healthy climate provides the necessary basis
for it to have expanded as a commercial city rather than vegetate as a
small coastal market town. "
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/2398/bginfo/geo/pontos.html
The artificial harbour "built" by Hadrian must have been of great importance.
"Trebizond seems to have enjoyed freedom and peace throughout the
classical period of Greek history. In the struggle between Rome and
Mithridates it took the side of the victorious Republic, and under the
Empire enjoyed the privileges of a free city.[6] In the Armenian
campaign of Nero's reign Trebizond, the gate of Armenia, was the port
through which the Roman army conveyed its supplies; and in the civil
wars which followed his death this ?illustrious,? this ?long famous
city,? as Mela and Tacitus[7] call it, was suddenly seized by an
adventurer in the name of Vitellius. Hadrian, the second founder of
Athens, made the fortune of her Euxine grandchild by endowing
Trebizond with an artificial harbour,[8] of which Finlay and Texier
found remains, whence roads radiated in all directions to carry the
Roman peace and the Roman products into Asia. Two events in the
following period interrupted the pacific life of the city-the civil
war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, in which Trebizond
suffered for its adhesion to the latter, and the Gothic invasion in
the reign of Valerian."
http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/texts/TrebizondCh1.html
Tacitus described the boats around Trabzon:
"The barbarians even insolently scoured the sea in hastily constructed
vessels of their own called "camarae," built with narrow sides and
broad bottoms, and joined together without fastenings of brass or
iron. Whenever the water is rough they raise the bulwarks with
additional planks according to the increasing height of the waves,
till the vessel is covered in like a house. Thus they roll about amid
the billows, and, as they have a prow at both extremities alike and a
convertible arrangement of oars, they may be paddled in one direction
or another indifferently and without risk."
http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/histories.3.iii.html
There's also an odd anecdote about poisonous honey:
"In 67 B.C., the Roman general Pompey led a large army against King
Mithridates of Pontus, which was an ancient kingdom located in Asia
Minor. King Mithridates slowly retreated for over a year until he
reached the southern shores of the Black Sea. Along the way, near the
outskirts of the city of Trabzon he left a large supply of locally
produced honey in clay pots knowing that it would be found and eaten
by the advancing Roman army. Three squadrons of Pompey's army found
and ate the honey, then became violently ill. The next morning the
sick Roman troops were easily annihilated by King Mithridates' army. "
http://www.vftn.org/projects/bryant/navbar_pages/apiary_2.htm
There's a map relating to your period here:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/reference/maps/freeimages.asp?ImageID=213
Perhaps it would help to search for background information on Anatolia
in general at that time? For example, you could search with:
Anatolia Romans
Anatolia Roman Empire
Pontus OR Pontos
Good luck to your daughter - Leli |
